This course deals with donative transfers of property by will, trust, or gift. It covers intestate succession, execution and revocation of wills, will drafting problems, restrictions on the power of testation (elective share statutes and the community property system), and the use of trusts. The course also covers future interests and basic estate and gift tax principles: the marital deduction, powers of appointment, and the use of trusts in basic estate planning.
The course has a substantial Texas law component; the Texas Probate Code provisions are explored. However, equal emphasis is placed on the laws of other jurisdictions, including jurisdictions that have enacted the Uniform Probate Code. Wills and Estates is intended as the foundation course for practicing in this area. The course is built around the planning and preparation of wills for a couple in their mid-forties with three young children (a) if the couple lives in a common law state that has enacted the Uniform Probate Code and (b) if the couple lives in Texas.
Prerequisites: Federal Income Tax (FIT) is no longer a prerequisite for Professor Johanson's Wills and Estates, but it is recommended.
Johanson, Stanley M.